I would love to be like you
by j0k3
Summary: Young Addison and her dream life. Songfic based on Like You from Elizabeth


A/N: Songfic based on the song 'Als Jij' (en: Like You) from the musical Elizabeth. Lyrics are a combination of English lyrics (translation? It didn't fit the melody…) I found online and my own translation of the Dutch version sung by the lovely Pia Douwes. Lyrics in bold are sung by young Sissi, italic means it is her father speaking/singing. I'm sorry for any messed up expressions/terms or Dutchisms, I'm not a native speaker as you can probably tell from the fact I speak Dutch :P

Disclaimer: I do not own Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice or any of their characters. Nor do I own the song or lyrics. I just got inspired and needed to write.

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**Mother is expecting guests tonight,**  
**It's going to be awful  
High collars, pointed noses, appearances  
And I sure wish I could escape all the gossip and the affectations,  
but the governess won't have it.**

Eight-year old Addison was once again in her room pouting. Bizzy had told her she was hosting a dinner party that night. Little Addison knew what that meant. It was going to be one of those awful, endless evenings. Sitting on an uncomfortable straight-backed chair for hours, watching adults dressed to the nines pretend they liked each other while they obviously didn't – the best case scenario was a group of gossiping uptight women with pointy arrogant noses gossiping about people they disliked even more, eating gross food (she really didn't like foie gras), being pinched in the cheeks ("Oh, how that little angel has grown.") and being tugged on like a doll ("Where did you get this dress? It is adorable. She really is becoming a little lady") and being quiet as a mouse. She knew her mother's speech by heart now. "Sit up straight, eat as a good girl should, be quiet and only speak if someone addresses you, and speak with respect!" She had been through enough of those things already to know how to act. She had tried a few times to get out of it, but her nanny always hoisted her in a brand-new dress once again, did her hair and made her sit on a chair until the guests had arrived – God forbid she messed up her curls or crinkled her dress! – Captain was once again leaving, he never was home if there was a dinner party. He always had the same excuse: "They need me at the practice" was as standard as the uncomfortable shoes and Bizzy's hissed warnings.

**Father, why ****can't I go with you?  
**_Sissi, stop it.  
_**But everything you like, I like even more**  
_Nevertheless, it's not possible  
_**Dreaming and writing poems or ride with the wind.**  
**I would love to be like you.**  
_Life is too short to get bored, even for an hour,  
and family gatherings, I hate as much as the plague.  
_**Me too!**

"Daddy, I want to go to work with you tonight. Can I? Please?" Addison stood next to the armchair the Captain was reading his newspaper in. It probably was some kind of financial newspaper. "Addie, stop it. It is not possible" was his reply. She hadn't expected anything else, she had been through the whole routine before. "Why daddy? If you like it so much at work, I will surely like it as much, if not more. I liked it at the university as well, didn't I?" She was referring to the week before, when she had been cutting up a stack of hotdogs in the back of the anatomy room where his med-students were dissecting the human gastro-intestinal track. How ironic. "Nevertheless, darling, it's not possible" he replied while Addison got lost in her memories. When she was out of hotdogs she had been writing poems in the margin of a Gray's Anatomy book, or just staring at her father, dreaming how she would break out of the corset of dinner parties and appearances and be a surgeon, just like her father. When she got home she went to the stables and spent the next few hours horse-back riding, galloping through the fields, feeling the wind blow though her hair. Lost in thoughts, she almost missed her fathers next comment. "Family gatherings are boring, and life is way too short to spend even an hour being bored. That's why I hate them as much as the plague." Addison now at least knew her father felt the same way she did, hating dinner parties. She took the chance of telling her father how she felt, by jumping up and down and saying "me too" excitedly. Of course, years later Addison realized the Captain probably wasn't even going to the practice those evenings, but spent the night screwing his flavour-of-the-week, adding another notch to his exam table. He was bound to run out of space soon.

**Why can't I climb the cherry tree today?**  
_Just be happy that you're not in your poor sister's shoes...  
_**Or try to balance on a rope!**  
_They're training Hélène to be an empress!  
_**Or play with my brothers on the meadows behind the house.**  
_I will not take sides!  
_**But the Governess won't allow it.**  
_I just can't help you._

Young Addison was quite the tomboy. She always wanted to climb the cherry tree in the backyard, but her Nanny wouldn't let her – how surprising. Every time she went to her father to complain about her Nanny, he would tell her how she should be glad she wasn't in her best friends' shoes, although the girls called themselves sisters. They once went to the circus during a school project, and since then Addison dreamed about balancing on the rope, high up in the tent. She remembered her father telling her Hélène was being trained to be a modern-day empress, her parents wanting her to marry up on the social ladder, being the trophy wife to one of the futures influential men. First Lady was their goal, and she was taken to more etiquette, ballet and other 'important' lessons than Addison, which she never thought possible. This afternoon she wanted to play on the meadows behind the house with Archer and his pseudo-brother. She could hear her father saying 'I will not take sides' in advance, but she tried anyway. Surprise, surprise, the Nanny came chasing after her and told her to go inside, it was unbecoming of a little lady her age to run around on the meadows! She should be stretching so she could do that jump the next time in her ballet performance for pity's sake! Addison ran to her father, however and said her Nanny wouldn't let her play. His only response was "I just can't help you".

**Father, but why can't I go with you....  
**_Maybe I'll be back by tomorrow afternoon!  
_**As far as Egypt, Spain, or Kathmandu**  
_Time to go now!  
_**I would like to be free as a gypsy,  
just travel with a zither, cross the land,  
do what you want to do.  
**_Adieu Sissi.  
__**A**_**nd always want to do what you do.  
**_Be good.  
_**I would love to be like you.**

The following morning at breakfast, Addison was told her father would be leaving for business once again, something which happened with an increasing frequency. She wanted to go along, to escape – even just for a moment – the forced, uptight environment she was being brought up in, courtesy of Bizzy and the Nanny – wait, it was ONLY the Nanny – Bizzy never was as interested as a mother should be. Her country club was more important than her daughter! Her father told her it would only be a short trip – maybe he would be back by tomorrow afternoon! Addison wanted to go far away, Cairo, Madrid, Barcelona, even the Nepalese city of Kathmandu sounded better than Connecticut to young Addison. She was so lost in her thoughts – she did that a lot – she missed her father telling her it was time to leave now. Her thoughts changed into a daydream. She imagined herself in her early twenties, having flown out of the nest they called Montgomery Mansion, riding a horse in wide gypsy skirts, carrying a zither in a bag on her shoulder, galloping across the east-European land, doing what she wanted to do, always wanting to do whatever she did. She snapped out of her reverie to hear her father saying "Goodbye Addie, be good". Despite everything, young Addison wanted to be like her father. She would love to be like him.

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A/N: So? What did you think? Please leave me a review, let me know what you think.  
Bad reviews okay, but keep your flaming to yourself, Reviews helping me improve my style would be very much appreciated, since writing is a major part of my grade both for my regular English exam, and my IB English A2 course.


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